Keynote Speaker
Darrell Scott
Darrell Scott is the father of Rachel Joy Scott, one of the victims at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. His son, Craig, was in the library that day and watched as 10 of his classmates were gunned down. Two of his close friends died beside him, and his sister, Rachel was killed just outside the library door, a few yards away.
Shots that pierced Columbine High School tore our hearts apart, yet provided a national wake-up call to all Americans. On that tragic day, Rachel Scott and others when asked, “Do you believe in God?” said “YES.” Her life on earth ended moments later, but the story of her life has reached around the world. Rachel’s Tears, the best-selling book by Rachel’s parents, provides a fresh look at God’s sovereign purposes in the lives of His people.
Rachel Smiles, Darrell’s current book, provides a chronicle of the good that has come from the evil perpetrated on Rachel and her peers that day at Columbine High. Darrell believes, as Rachel wrote just one month before she was killed “compassion is the greatest form of love that humans have to offer…I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same.”
Darrell Scott is the leading spokesperson from the Columbine tragedy addressing the issue of violence among teens. He has present his talk at nearly every major youth event in the United States and is presently a regular speaker at major universities including UCLA, Brown and Dartmouth University.
Darrell believes that kindness is the most effective antidote for violence, but that it can come bearing a very high price. Darrell has spoken to millions of people over the last few months through television, radio and in large gatherings of people. He has been featured in Time, Newsweek, Christianity Today and many other publications around the world. Numerous people such as Oprah Winfrey, Larry King, Tom Brokaw, Katie Couric, Leeza Gibbons and many, many more have interviewed him.
He has met with the President of the United States and meets regularly with governors, senators and congressmen. Darrell says that his most important meetings are with the young people of this nation, and his message is one of triumph through tragedy. He shares writings from the numerous diaries that his daughter left behind as well as some of the untold stories of Columbine.
The purpose of his new book Rachel Smiles (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2002) is to assist teens, educators, parents, civic groups and churches to reach out to those who are troubled and to create a culture where kindness rather than bullying is cool, and where violence is no longer commonplace.
